powell + loy = bling

Last night, TCM aired one of the delightful films of The Thin Man series, Shadow of the Thin Man, 1941. William Powell and Myrna Loy star as Nick and Nora Charles; Nick a dapper, hard drinking retired detective and Nora, his wealthy heiress wife. In each of the films, they team up and delightfully solve a bloody "moy-duh", mostly for fun, with the help of their darling Fox Terrier, Asta. The initial film's screenplay was based on the mystery novel The Thin Man by Dashiell Hammett. It was such a smashing success, it spawned five sequels from 1934 to 1947.

I love the adorable chemistry between Powell and Loy. I can't think of another Hollywood pair who produce as much sparkle, well, except for maybe John Wayne and Maureen O'Hara. In each of the films, Loy is a joy to behold, outfitted in every scene with glamorous clothing and plenty of bling. The amazing thing is, each of these witty films were shot in just a short two week time span. Another interesting tidbit, the "Thin Man" of the title was actually the suspect in the first film. The name was thought by virtually everyone to refer to the character of Nick Charles, hence it was used in the titles of the sequels.

A boxed set of The Thin Man movies is now officially on my Christmas wish list.

Loy, doggy star Asta, and Powell

You might be familiar with these two movies influenced by The Thin Man films:

In the 1976 comedy spoof movie Murder by Death, the characters of Nick and Nora Charles became Dick and Dora Charleston, played by David Niven and Maggie Smith.

In the 2005 animated film Hoodwinked!, the character Nicky Flippers, a frog detective voiced by David Ogden Stiers, was based on Nick Charles.